Staff
Perhaps with three Fort Frances Lakers officiating their game, it might have been a bad omen for the Fort Frances Thunder’s chances to do much offensively.
With Dylan Kooner and Maverick Lynes handling the refereeing, and Jared Virtanen overseeing the lines, the Thunder mirrored the goal-scoring woes of the local Junior ‘A’ squad of late by falling 2-1 to the Dryden Drillers on Sunday in the bronze-medal final of the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association’s Bantam ‘A’ tournament.
Darbie Mattson drove the stake through the Thunder’s heart with 1:45 left in regulation on a short-handed foray that ended in the worst of luck for the locals.
With Corissa Jensson in the box for body contact, Mattson pulled away from two Thunder defenders and had a clean breakaway on goalie Abigail Maclam.
Mattson’s shot looked to have been blocked by Maclam. But when the netminder sank to her knees to control the shot, the puck somehow squeezed through her pads and out the back door to crawl just over the goal line.
The Thunder nearly tied it in the final minute but Drillers’ goalie Brynn Montgomery got just enough of Marti Woods’ rocket from the slot to keep it out.
Dryden opened the scoring 2:22 into the game as Madisen Lambert jammed a centering pass from behind the net past Maclam.
The netminder kept it a one-goal game moments later, though, robbing Marde Singleton on a one-timer from the doorstep.
Ashlyn Beck tied it for the home squad just under eight minutes into the second on a fantastic solo rush.
The first-year Bantam scooped up the puck at centre and raced down the left wing, using her great speed to veer around two Drillers’ defenders.
Beck then pulled the puck over to her forehand and, with Montgomery moving across the crease, whipped a shot across her body to the opposite side of the net.
The Thunder had three-straight power plays after that but couldn’t capitalize, with Mattson making that costly mistake in the end.
It was the second nail-biter in two meeting at the tournament for the two squads as they tied 1-1 in their respective opening games.
Eva Morrisseau had the Thunder in front with a second-period marker, but Paige Silander buried the equalizer for Dryden with one second to go.
The Lake of the Woods Bar-Down Beauties romped 11-0 over the Thunder, which then fell 5-1 to the Lake of the Woods Hurricanes (Woods had the lone goal).
In the semi-finals against the Hurricanes, the Thunder gave up three goals in each of the first two periods and lost 7-1.
Taylor Pagee netted the lone tally for the Thunder with a highlight-reel shot in the third period.
